I am posting this here as I wouldn't want to be accused of posting off-topic again.

cokemaster: 'The person'... well going by that logic, all Telecom employees are females too!

'The person' Was in reference to a particular CS rep I dealt with, I was asked to explain my conclusion and I did, there is no need for nit-picking.

EVERY time I have contacted Telecom I have dealt with a Woman.

Which suggests multiple contacts. While making unfounded and trollish remarks towards another telco is a great way of derailing the thread at hand - it is frowned upon here. Furthermore even IF (big IF) Telecom customer service was poor... does that somehow excuse Vodafone from providing poor customer service? The answer is no.

Yes multiple contacts with the same (IMHO) sub-standard service.

It was NOT a "trollish remark" it is FACT

Another telco? Implying I work for one, which I assure you I do not, and other than being a customer of BOTH Telecom and Vodafone I have no dealings with.

I never suggested it excuses Vodafone, I was just stating a FACT

So, please keep the discussion on the topic (ie. no more stereotypes or guesstimates of pay on competitors contact centers) , which was Vodafone customer service, the posters topic and billing. Otherwise various moderation tools may need to be used to contain the situation (including a free 'relocation' to bantown).

As far as I am concerned my initial post was on topic, It was the moderators that forced me to post an off topic defense because one did not like the words I used to describe a CS rep. All I did was state the facts.

There were plenty of ways that you could have described the service you received without applying a stereotype. While going offtopic, it wouldn't have received the same way as it did.

I am likewise a customer of both Telecom and Vodafone, as well as being past customers of other internet service providers (slingshot and orcon)... I have on occasion received extremely poor customer service from them, however one does not make comments about ones weight, relationship with primates, their pay, or their ethnicity.

Its a very slippery slope which ends with labels like 'racist' and bigot.

If [telco] decides to provide poor training to their representatives (who are representing that telco by the way), or select representatives who are not interested in providing decent customer service - that is their problem... pull them up on that. However the singling out of reps by ethnicity or guesstimates of weight is a bit of a under-the-belt blow who often are trying to provide the best service they can given the training/resources. There are always exceptions to this rule though.

The thread was about Vodafone customer service (both in their contact centers and dealerships) and a billing issue. Not comparisons to other providers levels of customer service.

Ok, I apologies if I offended anyone, that was not my intention. I guess I come from a "world" that accepts descriptions like that. This obviously isn't one of them.

It didn't offend me personally. But how would you feel if someone you never met face to face talked about you in words that are mostly racist? I think you wouldn't like. That's why I didn't want that comparison you posted.

I can bet some CSR for TNZ, VFNZ, WxC and more probably read Geekzone. I am pretty sure you are not the most loved person by these people right now.

The rules are not there to enforce a view over everyone, they are there to ensure that the forum is a civilised place and that discussion within threads are productive for the participants and the thread as a whole. In this case, they clearly weren't. There are some communities where there are 'no rules'....

If your 'world' rotates around that, so be it... just don't force on the rest of us, some of whom are sick and tired of the underhanded comments made to various groups based on their ethnicity. I don't hold any ill will towards you however, even though you've taken things to the next level and got another median involved (IRC) to try and minimize the impact of your statements. While there is a clear difference to what your join message states - I'm not prepared to get into a debate which will no doubt spoil various peoples and the community in general images. One is racist remarks and the execution/torture remarks were clearly made in jest.

And looking at yourself is strongly recommended before making such statements... how would you like people discussing yourself in such negative and racist light? Actually don't answer that, as based on your previous responses... its obvious what the answers would be.

Anyway, enough feeding the trolls, I guess I'll see you on the forums and IRC, hopefully contributing rather than being in the spotlight like now.